MOL Group coprocessing renewable diesel at Danube Refinery in Hungary

MOL Group's Danube Refinery in Hungary (Photo: MOL Group)

MOL Group, an international oil and gas company based in Budapest, Hungary, has begun coprocessing renewable diesel at its Danube Refinery in Százhalombatta, Hungary.

The oil refiner says after several years of research and development, it has started to coprocess vegetable oils, animal fats and used cooking oil.

In line with its updated strategy, “Shape Tomorrow,” MOL Group plans to gradually increase the share of renewable feedstock in its coprocessing to close in on its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. The company intends to spend USD$1 billion in the next five years on new, low-carbon, sustainable projects to become a key player in the Central and Eastern European circular economy.

Coprocessing renewable diesel at its Danube Refinery equates to eliminating up to 200,000 tons of annual CO2 emissions, which would be like a city of 200,000 residents entirely switching to solar energy for heating, MOL Group said. The target, according to the company, is to further expand the type of waste that can be used as feedstocks in coprocessing to achieve even better CO2 savings.

“MOL Group has been a biofuel user by purchasing more than 500,000 tons of biofuels (bioethanol and biodiesel) for blending,” said Gabriel Szabó, executive vice president of MOL Group Downstream. “With this investment, we have started to produce sustainable diesel for the first time within MOL Group and we became biofuel producers. The benefits are numerous, as we produce more sustainable fuel, we will also help the circular economy by recycling waste. In line with our recently updated strategy, ‘Shape Tomorrow,’ we are planning to produce more than 100,000 tons of biofuel by 2030.”

The oil refiner started coprocessing renewable diesel as an R&D project in 2012 based on research results from Pannon University. Feedstock types and quality requirements were determined, and MOL Group’s investment into coprocessing—including infrastructure development to store and process renewable feedstock—began in 2018. Coprocessing trial operations began last March and has been operating regularly since May.

MOL Group operates three refineries and two petrochemical plants in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. It owns a network of nearly 2,000 service stations across 10 countries in Central and South Eastern Europe.